


Dean: resurrected

by Lennelle



Series: Next of Kin [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Assault, Choking, Delusions, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Post-Season/Series 07 AU, Reunions, Sam Winchester and Mental Health Issues, Sedation, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:33:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10071686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lennelle/pseuds/Lennelle
Summary: Dean and Sam reunite... almost.





	

This is how Jody explains it: she gets a call one day telling her that Sam has been committed. She pretends to be his aunt. Sam spends most of the next year on a psychiatric ward. Sam gets better, Sam gets worse. That's about the gist of it.

It doesn't make sense to Dean. According to Jody, Sam is barely hanging onto reality. He's completely delusional, paranoid, nuts. Well, Jody didn't use that last word. But Sam is a strong kid. Dean _knows_ Sam, and Sam is tougher than anyone Dean's ever known, maybe even Dean himself. Definitely tougher than Dean. Sam endured the Cage and came back mostly in one piece. Even when Sam was five-days sleep deprived with the Devil singing in his ear, he was still _there_. He was lucid... almost to the end.

Dean pictures Sam lying, dressed all in white, in that Indiana hospital, staring at nothing and not seeing much else.

Is that what Sam is like now?

Cas was supposed to fix this. He _had_ fixed this. Last time Dean saw Sam, the kid was firing on all cylinders, not that the same could be said for Cas.

Cas is... gone. That's all there is to it. Besides, Sam needs Dean right now.

They get to the hospital and Jody spends a long time explaining that her nephew, Dean, was MIA and presumed dead oversees. Miraculously, Dean has returned home, although they won't specify where exactly he's been. That would probably result in the both of them neighbouring with Sam. The doctor thanks Dean for his services to the country, which is kind of awkward but he's not dumb enough to turn down any kind of appreciation. Then, the doctor, who seems to be authority in this situation, decides it's best to let Sam know his brother isn't actually dead, and they can deal with the fallout of that later.

It's decided that Jody should tell Sam, and she goes in with a doctor to supervise. Dean stays outside, it might send the kid skittering over the edge if his dead brother suddenly walked into his room. While Jody is explaining things, Dean waits with his ear pressed to the door.

"Sam, hey," Jody says.

"Jody. Jody, do you see? Do you see it? Don't let it get me."

The first thing Dean thinks is that it's amazing to hear Sam's voice, to know that he's _right there_ , just a few steps away. Then, he think _holy shit_ because Sam sounds like a crazy person.

"It's okay, Sam," Jody says, in a softer voice than Dean thought she was even capable of. "Shhh. Remember that you're safe here? Remember that?"

"I - I think so..."

"Good." Dean can hear the smile in her voice. "Sam, I have something to tell you."

There's a long, heavy pause. In the end, Jody just comes out with it.

"Dean is alive. He's here. To see you."

That's followed by another long, heavy pause, more on Sam's part than Jody's this time.

"Sam, did you hear what your aunt said?" that's the doctor's voice.

"Don't talk to me," Sam mumbles.

" _Sam,"_ Jody scolds.

Another long pause, then Jody's voice, "Sam?"

"I - I don't understand."

"Dean is alive, Sam. He's okay. He's here if you want to see him."

That last part is just stupid, Dean thinks. Of course Sam wants to see him.

"He's already here. He was here when - No, you said he was gone. He's _gone_. You said."

"I know, and I was wrong about that. I'm sorry."

There's more silence.

"Do you want to see Dean?"

No answer.

"Sam," the doctor says, "could you try to pay attention for a moment?"

And that's a bit of kick to the jewels. Dean is almost tempted to barge in there himself, he almost does, but there's a quiet conversation he can't make out followed by the doctor opening the door and ushering him inside. Sam is sitting on the edge of the only bed in the room, dressed in grey sweatpants and a red wool sweater, something Jody probably bought for him. He looks up at Dean and frowns like he's a puzzle to be solved, an eerily Cas-like expression.

Dean grins in the most encouraging way he can muster. "Heya, Sammy."

Sam slowly gets to his feet and approaches Dean. Jody is smiling from behind, the doctor lingers in the doorway. When Sam is almost toe-to-toe with him, Dean automatically opens his arms, ready to pull Sam into his chest. Because it's been a year of nothing but blood and guts and non-stop death, the stink of it is still clinging to his skin, and as much as Purgatory might have felt right and pure sometimes, Sam was always on his mind. Like a phantom limb.

Sam's arms are coming up too, but they aren't returning the embrace, his hands are wrapping around Dean's neck. He's being roughly pushed against a wall, Sam's thumbs pressing on his airways. The skin on Dean's face feels like it's tightening, mouth gaping open and closed like a fish. All while this is happening Sam is screaming in his face, "You're not him! Take off his face! Now or I'll rip it off myself!"

Jody is trying to tug Sam's hands away from Dean's neck, but Sam is a big dude and she barely makes him budge. Things are going grey and fuzzy around the edges when the pressure on his neck is finally released. Dean crumbles down to his knees, choking and gasping, eyes watering like crazy, as he tries to pull some air into his lungs. Jody is there, rubbing his back, worry coming off her in waves.

Dean looks up and sees that Sam is being pinned down to his mattress by four men while the doctor taps a syringe.

"No!" Sam screams. "Don't send me back! Please!"

Sam's pants are tugged down until there's a good portion of his ass exposed, the doctor doesn't hesitate before jamming the syringe needle into his skin. His struggles become sluggish and uncoordinated until, finally, he isn't moving anymore at all. Jody helps Dean get to his feet. He shrugs her off and, when the doctor asks the nurse to fetch some restraints, he leaves the room as fast as he can.

Jody catches him at the other end of the hall.

"You'll need to see a doctor about that," she says, gesturing to his neck. "I think it's starting to bruise."

Dean just shakes his head, not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry that this is how things went. When he gets better, he'll feel like crap about all of this. He's not usually that... aggressive."

"What the hell happened to my brother, Jody?" Dean demands, voice raspy.

She sighs, eyes sympathetic. "He's mentally ill, Dean. He was admitted to a psychiatric ward in Indiana over a year ago, before Sucrocorp. He was signed out AMA, but I'm guessing you know all about that."

"Don't get mad at me," Dean says.

Jody holds up her hands. "I'm not. I swear. I just think there's a lot I don't know about here."

Dean rubs a hand down his face, half-hoping that when he opens his eyes again he'll be back in Purgatory. "Sam... he went through some bad shit. Something no one should have to - he was pretty messed up after."

"Does this thing he went through have anything to do with Satan?" Jody asks.

Dean stares at her.

"He's mentioned some things here and there," she explains. Then she takes a deep, weary breath. "The devil? Jesus Christ..."

"We got him back, but he was messed up after. Hearing and seeing things that weren't there, you know? Then he just stopped sleeping, got sent to the nut house."

Jody purses her lips. Clearly she doesn't appreciate that way of saying it.

Dean carries on. "Cas fixed him. The hallucinations, all of that was gone. I just don't understand how he got like this."

"Maybe he wasn't fixed," Jody says. "Maybe only for a little while, but when you and your friend vanished, he was lost. He couldn't accept that he had no one left so he just... detached himself from reality."

Dean nods his head down the hall, towards Sam's room. "And that? What was that?"

She sighs. "He thinks most of the staff here are demons trying to make him drink their blood. He was just confused, Dean, it was a big thing for him to take in."

"But... I'm his brother."

Jody places a gentle hand on his shoulder. She says, "I know. And he'll know too, when he's better."


End file.
